When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he came up with an entirely new form of communication. No longer was communication dependent on the speed of a person delivering mail: people could talk with each other almost instantly. By simply identifying the person with whom you wished to talk (first by name to an operator, later by telephone number), two people could talk with each other.
Improvements followed over the years. Conference calling permits three or more people, all at different telephones, to talk with each other. Facsimile transmission supports sending pictures via the telephone. Telephone companies added numerous features: customers can now block specific telephone numbers (although the number of telephone numbers that can be blocked is kept small), and can forward all telephone calls to another number. And with the advent of the cellular telephone, it has become possible for a person to carry his telephone with him wherever he goes.
But as a consequence of these improvements, many people have multiple different telephone numbers at which they can be reached. For example, it is common for a person to have a home telephone number, a work telephone number (perhaps two, if their telephone system includes a telephone number to the receptionist at work and a direct telephone line to the person's desk), a cellular telephone number, and a facsimile telephone number (perhaps two, if the person has a facsimile machine at home as well as at work). The person might even have more telephone numbers that can reach him. This proliferation of telephone numbers makes it harder for one person to reach another: the caller might have to try several different telephone numbers before reaching the person with whom he wants to talk.
To deal with this proliferation of telephone numbers, some strategies have been developed. Some people give out only their work telephone numbers to business associates, or their home and cellular telephone numbers only to friends and family. This reduces the number of telephone numbers a calling party would have to try before locating (or failing to locate) the party with whom they want to talk.
People have also developed some general rules to aid in telephone call management. Generally, a person can be expected to be at their work telephone number during business hours. And answering machines and voicemail systems make it possible for a person to leave a message when he cannot reach the person with whom he wants to talk. But even these general rules do not apply all of the time. For example, when a person is on vacation (or taking personal time off), he cannot be reached at his work telephone number during business hours.
A need remains for a way to address these and other problems associated with the prior art.